Kay yesterday

Kay must have "rebooted" herself yesterday because she about as normal as she can get.  Today she got up although she is moving around pretty slowly she is awake and seems to   think to her normal level.  I rushed and got her her breakfast as  I had prepared it when I got mine and had her sitting down to Milk toast with a poached egg on it.  If she eats it is something else however.  I suppose when it gets to the stage where she cant feed herself then it is an entirely new ball game.  However other things could cause dramatic changes before she gets to that stage I suppose.  Because just eating and swallowing could be impossible as I have seen in other people. 

On leave from either Ft Lewis or Ft. Sill, probably Ft. Lewis as the cap looks too new 

When I went overseas in WW2 she did some volunteering at the USO located in the downtown Young Women's Christian Association I think it was. She was a pretty good dancer.  Me?  I had two left feet.  I never in my whole life managed to learn to dance even though she begged me to learn.  Even though I played in dance orchestras many times. But at the USO she was sometimes pared with a good soldier or sailor on the dance floor and the other dancers would clear the floor to watch them dance.  I suppose it was Boogie Woogie dancing.  She told me this after the war when I came back.  She also knew the Hula.  Of course during the war and as Seattle was a major seaport it was crawling with servicemen looking for a place to have a good time.  I cant remember the name of the nightclub  on First Avenue close to the waterfront but the owner of the club approached her and offered her a job as performer in it.  it stayed open for some years after the war. Because of her upbringing as a good old fundamental Free Methodist, although she herself didn't particularly go along with their severe approach to fundamental Christianity, no doubt her upbringing influenced her not to accept the job but continue  to get along on the $80 dollars a month the government doled out.   She certainly could have used the money. 


I'll occasionally post some more memories of that period from time to time. 
Bill Sheldon June 17, 1920. April 4, 2001. Four years in the 3rd Infantry Division WW2 His story. Find it at Four years in the 3rd Inf in WW2
If you can't wait to get new posting to this web page get on the list of automatic mail when something new is posted................KE7PLR......................

Chapter 3 Basic Training

It may seem that I entered the military late in the war when lots of the danger was past but that is not the case. As far as Europe was concerned the late events of 1944. Battle of the Bulge was still t come. There was fighting across Europe. There was plenty of time to get killed. If you got sent to the Pacific as some of our outfit did with fighting in the Philippines or even Okinawa there was even more time. Because I was eventually sent to advanced training at Ft Sill and I had an accident which put me in the hospital with pneumonia in the end it turned out to be a stroke of luck. Although I almost died from pneumonia. But it was just the luck of the draw that as it turned out it was more like a camping trip gone bad. But back to basic training.

We arrived at Camp Roberts north of San Francisco at night from Ft. Lewis. As usual the army never tells you anything. So I had no idea what I was headed into. Infantry? Artillery? But there were some trucks. They marched us to across the parade ground. Someone asked the driver where we were going. He told us if it was the infantry we would be walking. That was a relief. I never got over that corn on my foot until I got out if basic training and didn't have to spend so much time on my feet. Because I stayed in the Artillery I wasn't bothered with corns. But to this day if I get on my feet too much I get a corn. I don't remember much of those first days. What does stand out in my mind was the week ends when my wife visited me from Seattle. After I had been there a while I was permitted passes on the week ends. She got a job at the Paso Robles Inn which burned down 10 or 20 years ago. Maybe more. Cleaning the mens and womens restrooms. She is way too good for me but she would do what had to be done.

It's a wonder I lived through basic not because I was in any danger to speak of but because on a couple weekends one of the guys lived in Modesto just north of Merced where I wanted to go to visit my dad and other relatives. He was a driving maniac. I don't remember the highway number but in those days over the mountains it was winding and not a good road. He would drive like there was no tomorrow. He had owned a garage in Modesto before being inducted. Anyway we made it OK. Here is a picture of Kay and me in the Merced park. The other picture is friends and us on Pismo Beach. Looks like placement of pictures on this blog is hard. Unless Google has a way of doing it that I dont know about. So bear with me and hope that as time goes by I will be able to overcome the inability of picture placement.


Meanwhile back at Camp Roberts we were mainly interested in weekends when we could meet our wives if they managed to come to Paso Robles to stay. One week end four of us went to Pismo beach which is near Paso Robles.




















I'll end this for now and get back with another page very soon. Today or even tomorrowl at the latest. Stay tuned


I don't know how to have you start at the beginning but scrool down to the first post and work from three. I'll improve as time goes by.